Stephen Tyrone Johns is being remembered today as a “Gentle Giant” and an avid Washington Redskins fan who loved to travel. His 39 years of life was cut short while on duty Wednesday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, when he was allegedly gunned down by 88-year-old white supremacist James von Brunn who stepped into the museum with a rifle and began firing.
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“To look at him initially he was very intimidating,” said Alan Burkee, a friend and former co-worker at the museum. “But he was very shy….. He had a great demeanor — very pleasant, very courteous to all the visitors that came in and the staff that worked there.” One of his last acts of kindness was reaching out and opening the door for the man who shot him, police said. Johns’ 11 year old son Stephen Johns Jr., known to family as “Little Stephen” said of his father “He was a pretty great guy. He was always there for me when I was down or sad.”`
Johns is being called a hero, since his actions stopped a potential madman from going on a shooting spree that could have injured or even killed a great number of people at the museum that day. Fortunately, the roughly 2,000 people visiting the museum at the time of the attack were able to walk away unharmed.
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James von Brunn, an outspoken Holocaust denier who had served six years in prison for a 1981 kidnapping attempt, was shot and wounded by Johns’ fellow officers following the attack. He remained in critical condition Thursday at George Washington University Hospital.
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The death of this Good man is yet another glaring example of home-grown American HATE acted out by another domestic terrorist.As an American, I owe it to myself to be honest with myself about the growing threat of reich-wing terrorism_NOT just against Blacks and Jews_but against whomever those twisted cretins see fir to target__women, gay men, lesbians, Arabs, Muslims, Latinos, _DOCTORS. It does NOT matter. I pray the HOT lights of scrutiny are put on HATERS who pose "real" threat_and kept on them BEFORE one of them hurts, maims, or KILLS again, which sadly, I fully expect WILL happen again. The truth is, HATE is a deadly disease of the Heart, Mind and Soul. It sucks the very life out of its human host, leaving nothing but a heartless, mindless, cold-blooded creature. But we are a nation of approx 300 million; a nation of “Change”. Haters will NOT win!The majority… Read more »